Keppel FELS Limited, a subsidiary of Keppel Offshore & Marine, has been awarded a contract from an affiliate of Clearwater Capital Partners to build two premium KFELS B Class jackup rigs.
The total cost of the project is put at US$440 million, including owner furnished equipment and project management fees. Work will start immediately and the rigs are scheduled to be completed in Autumn 2015 and early 2016.
Mr Wong Kok Seng, Managing Director (Offshore) of Keppel O&M and Managing Director of Keppel FELS said this brought the number of KFELS B Class/Super B Class jackup rigs on order to 17, with 49 already delivered. The company’s designs are proving popular with oil companies and drilling operators in a growing market; half of the rigs in service will be over 30 years old by 2015 and likely to need replacement before long.
Mr Wong Kok Seng said: “It is a clear indication of the strength of the design with oil companies and drilling operators.”
He added:"Having delivered 16 rigs already this year, Keppel FELS has demonstrated its strong project execution capabilities in completing all its projects safely, ahead or on time and within budget. In addition, with the rigs being built to repeat designs, we are able to reap efficiencies by replicating the process to speed up the work."
The KFELS B Class jackup rig can operate in water depths of up to 400 feet, can drill to 30,000 feet deep and is equipped with offline standbuilding capability. Developed by Keppel's technology arm, Offshore Technology Development, the KFELS B Class jackup design is said to provide maximum uptime with reduced emissions and discharges.
Dr Yao Chye Chiang, Singapore-based Chief Operating Officer of Clearwater said: "We continue to see strong demand for new high specification jackup rigs as the industry continues its rig replacement trend. The KFELS B Class is a proven design which has been the rig of choice for leading oil companies in the industry.”
